Goodrich Castle is a Norman medieval castle to the north of Goodrich village, Herefordshire, England, between Monmouth and Ross-on-Wye.
William Wordsworth describes it as the "noblest ruin in Herefordshire" and is considered by historian Adrian Pettifer to be the "most splendid in the county, and one of the best examples of English military architecture". Godric of Mappestone was the builder after the Norman invasion of England, firstly as an earth and wooden fortification but by the middle of the 12th century the original castle was replaced with a stone keep, then expanded significantly during the late 13th century into a concentric structure with luxurious living quarters and extensive defences. It became the seat of the powerful Talbot family before falling out of favour as a residence in late Tudor times. Held first by Parliamentary and then Royalist forces in the English Civil War it was successfully besieged by Colonel John Birch in 1646 with the help of the huge "Roaring Meg" mortar. By the end of the 18th century Goodrich became a noted picturesque ruin and the subject of many paintings and poems and provided the inspiration for Wordsworth's famous 1798 poem "We are Seven". Now a well-known tourist location owned by English Heritage and open to the public. The Castle stands on a high rocky sandstone outcrop overlooking the River Wye commanding a crossing of the river, known as Walesford or Walford, Ross-on-Wye. The castle guards the line of the former Roman road from Gloucester to Caerleon as it crosses from England into Wales. There is an early Norman square keep of light grey sandstone, with Norman windows and pilaster buttresses. Although the keep had thick walls, its relatively small size would have made it more useful for defence than for living in. The keep originally had a first-storey door for safety, this was later turned into a window and the entrance brought down to the ground floor. The keep would originally have had an earth mound built up against the base of it to protect against attack, and the stone work remains rougher in the first few courses of masonry.
Size: 4000px × 6000px
Location: Goodrich Castle, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © Philip Chapman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: architecture, bailey, barbican, buttresses, castle, causeway, chapel, cobble, concentric, courtyardwell, defensive, fireplace, gate, gatehouse, goodrich, grand, high, hopwood, imposing, masonry, meg, military, mortar, noble, norman, outcrop, picturesque, pilaster, power, river, roaring, rocky, ruin, ruinous, sandstone, spurs, stone, talbot, thiock, towers, walesford, walford, walls, wordworth, wye
